Tanzania, (mid-eastern) Africa
Africa is a "bucket-list trip" for many photographers. I've been to Africa three times since 2013. My first trip was a birthday present to me for my 60th birthday and it was my first wildlife photography trip. I know of several photographers who have gotten hooked on the trip and return year after year. My first trip in 2013 was to Kruger National Park and the surrounding area with Gregory Sweeney South Africa Safaris. I returned in 2022 with a photographer who was familiar with Kenya and the tour consisted only of the two of us in a single jeep, a nice size group, traveling to ten parks or wildlife refuges throughout Kenya, including Maasai Mara. Driving throughout Kenya over 15 days was also somewhat of a wildlife tour, at times an "E" ticket ride if you are familiar with that type of ticket given by Disney in years past at their amusement parks, it was for the wildest rides.
In March 2025 I visited Tanzania with Steve and Rose Perry, Backcountry Gallery, and 11 other photographers, and I think we all got outstanding shots. Africa is an enchanting place and going there to photograph wildlife is always rewarding. The Perry's, mostly Rose, did an excellent job of moving the group through the airports and hotels and getting us settled in to two different bush camps. For the most part Rose Perry manages that everything goes smoothly during travel and she takes great care to pay attention to detail to keep us out of trouble, and it can be pretty easy to get in trouble while traveling in foreign countries! My main goal on this trip was big cats...lions, cheetahs, and leopards but I was all-in on photographing any wildlife I could find.
We flew from the Arusha Airport in a small plane to our first bush camp in the Serengeti and landed in the central Serengeti at a bush airport called Seronera airstrip, the primary airstrip in the Serengeti National Park. We got picked up by three jeeps with a driver/guide in each one for the drive to the Sametu Camp, part of the Karibu Camps and Lodges, that we would use as our base for the next four days. These bush camps are pretty amazing to me, true luxury in the bush with staff attending to every need, including bringing coffee to my tent at 5 a.m. My room looked out on, through a wall of sliding glass doors, the plains with sometimes hundreds of animals running by in the distance. The camp included a large pool, a bar and lounge, and a nice-sized dining area.
Our time there would be focused on driving to and around the Masi Kopjes and Sametu Kopjes as well as searching the vast plains for wildlife, with a first priority being given to big cats. Kopjes are isolated rock hills that rise abruptly from the plains, formed by the weathering and erosion of granite and gneiss (metamorphic rock) over time, and the cats often use them to rest in during the heat of the day and after a kill.
A Kopje on the plains of the Serengeti National Park.
Leaving that camp we moved on to the Woodlands Camp, a camp that moved with the seasons and was also a part of Karibu Camps and Lodges. Woodland Camp was all tent camping, but tent camping does not even begin to describe the site. There was a permanent wooden deck with a bar, a nice sized dining area tent, and then a row of 12 very large and very plush tents set up nearby. My tent was a two-bedroom, two-bathroom tent just for me! There was a very nice area with two couches and a table to use for relaxing in the evening after dinner. It amazes me that the staff take down all the tents and move them elsewhere in different seasons, that is crazy and must be so much work to do. They would leave any boardwalks or wooden platforms but move everything else.
(IPhone image) My tent cabin, fit for a family of four, one private bedroom/bathroom and another bedroom/living area and private bathroom.
One of the fun things that happened during our outing each day was the morning and afternoon "tea break." Out would come the coffee, tea or cold drinks and a pastry or snack, always placed nicely on a checkered tablecloth laid over the hood of a jeep.
Here I am getting out of the jeep for afternoon tea. The jeeps used were great for photographers as they had completely open windows on both sides and an open top.
Journeying forth twice a day from the Woodland Camp we would visit Lake Ndutu and Lake Masek to photograph flamingos in the Ngorongoro Conservation Areas or head to the Gol Kopjes to find big cats or elephants and other wildlife in the ponds and on the plains.
I think going in the "off" season, the rainy season, provides more opportunity for photographing young animals as this is the birthing season for many of the animals. One downfall to the rainy season is that vehicles can get stuck in the mud but someone is always willing to lend a hand when this happens. This happened in the Lake Ndutu area as a driver, not with our group, was crossing what looked to be an area that other drivers had already crossed but for some reason he got stuck. The drivers in our group walked over to see if they could assist.
Over the course of the eight days I was privileged to take thousands of shots of all types of wildlife, from adult and baby lions to cheetah, wildebeest, zebra, jackal and even a dung beetle! In all, I photographed between 35-40 different species, from birds to mammals including the smaller animals.
Of the three trips I've made to Africa, this one provided me with more opportunity for great shots, including a lot of shots of young and baby animals, always my favorite subject.
Of the three trips I've made to Africa, this one provided me with more opportunity for great shots, including a lot of shots of young and baby animals, always my favorite subject.
